Exhibition Photos

Oh boy is the end of year busy for everyone, but with the three huge events for ISL grade 5 in the past month, I have barely had time to come up for air. Today the students are up in middle school for their shadow day so I have some time to breathe, catch up and give attention to some things that have been recently neglected, i.e., the blog.

Exhibition has come and gone and seems so far away, but in reality, it was just only a month ago. I could not have asked for anything more from the kids and they were wonderful, not only on Exhibition day, but all of the 8 weeks working and preparing for the event.

This year our topics were impressive and I was so proud of the depth in which they dove into their topics. The topics covered breast cancer, video game addiction, consumerism, endangered animals, brain health, food waste, sexism and homelessness. Here are some photos from the big day!

 

Exhibition Action Film Festival

We are in the process of brainstorming, drafting and receiving feedback on our action plans. Over the next few days we will be examining some videos and articles that show people taking action throughout the world. Enjoy a glimpse into our film festival with these selections.

 

Sorting Out Exhibition Information

Exhibition is going really, really well and the students got started on writing their central ideas and lines of inquiry this past week. We followed the following steps with much success!

• Created notecards with facts on them as a group
• Sorted the notecards into categories
• Wrote titles for the categories and determined if more research was needed
• Did more research
• Sorted the categories into sub-categories
• Learned how to write an outline and created outlines for our research
• Examined the POI and discussed the elements of a "good" central idea
• Looked over lines of inquiry for Units of Inquiry throughout the school
• Drafted, reflected and revised central ideas as a group
• Used the central idea checklist to evaluate our central ideas
• Looked at the key concept questions linked to our research and started to draft lines of inquiry

I am so proud of all of the hard work the kids are doing. Their knowledge and hard work on the PYP elements has been wonderful!

 

Exhibition Retreat Planning

If you want to try planning an exhibition retreat, here are some steps to help you organize it.

• Talk to your administrator about the idea. State the purpose and how it is going to benefit the students through the process of exhibition.
• Start introducing the idea to parents and the teaching staff. Include a conversation with mentors to get them on board and excited about it.
• Set a date. We had the students stay over night on Thursday so the retreat was for two full days. While it was exhausting for teachers since we were with the students the entire time without prep time, it allowed lots of time for lessons and fun. 
• Create a blank schedule off timetable and share it with your mentors and specialist teachers. Ask them to donate their time and teach a lesson with the students at some point during those two days.
• At the top of the schedule, offer some suggestions for staff members who want to participate, but are not confident about their ideas. 
• Enlist the room parent to help organize the food. I asked families to send in snacks and drinks for the two days and to provide breakfast. We had more than enough food and the parents were eager to help. 
• Talk to families. I did this during the exhibition morning for parents and students. In hindsight, I would talk to families way before this since it was a bit of a time crunch.
• Make a packing list. In addition to the normal sleep over items, students brought yoga mats to sleep on and fun items such as a torch, game to play, stuffed animal and scary story.
• Afterwards, have students write thank-you letters to everyone who participated, including the staff, chaperones and parents.

 

Exhibition Retreat

A few weeks back I had the privilege of traveling to England to attend the IBO Exhibition workshop. While collaborating with teachers and administrators from the region, I got this wild idea to organize a grade 5 exhibition retreat for the students. The goal would be to get them excited about the journey and process ahead of us and have experts come in to teach on various topics.

I went to my administrator and shared this idea with him. He was game for giving it a try, including the overnight sleep over. It was a lot of organizing and working with parents and staff to pull it off, but it was a huge success. A parent called me a risk-taker and I love it when I can live and model the PYP learner profile for my students. If you have an idea, give it a try and work to accomplish it!